Posted by Norman
a resident of another community
on Nov 14, 2011 at 8:00 pm

Anna doesn't really hold old fashioned Town Hall Meetings. The questions are all first screened and Anna gets to answer them as she pleases. At the ones when she is in front of people in a room you can't ask her a question directly and protest if she's evasive. In the telephone ones you tell someone what you want to say and then Anna 'talks' to you. I guess its a big coincidence as to how many laudatory callers Anna gets to talk to. Its all part of being an unbeatable incumbent.

Posted by yawn
a resident of Blossom Valley
on Nov 14, 2011 at 10:15 pm

A bit early for a campaign ad isn't it?
The class warfare slant is getting old. I'm part of the 99%... and lucky enough to have a job right now. Yes, the rich are richer. guess what, the poor are richer too... the same CBO study that showed astronomical growth in income of the top 1% also showed modest income growth in the bottom 20% (18% over the same timespan in inflation-adjusted dollars). Of course, studies that have tracked individuals rather than statistical classifications tell a different story, as the income of the wealthy fluctuates wildly, with many having a reduction in income (speaking to the difficulty of remaining in the top 1% year after year), and many of those in the bottom 20% moving up over years and out of the bottom quintile. The ridiculous wealth speaks to new ways of making money, not of wealthy individuals hoarding money at the expense of everyone else. Fix what is broken, don't throw out the baby with the bath water!

Posted by gcoladon
a resident of North Whisman
on Nov 15, 2011 at 10:16 amgcoladon is a registered user.

On the question of raising taxes on the wealthy. Being situated here in Mountain View, I can't help but ask myself (and all of you): If it were up to me, who would I choose to spend/invest the incremental money that Messrs. Larry Page and Sergey Brin would have to pay if taxes on the wealthy were increased: Page and Brin themselves, or the federal government?

My personal view is that Page and Brin are going to be much more careful and thoughtful about where they invest their own wealth, While they will also make mistakes from time to time and make bad investments, I expect them to do much better than congresspeople or career bureaucrats in Washington DC.

Not to mention, none of the money they spend will be spend on bullets, attack drones, missiles, tanks, daisy cutters, Blackwater, bunker busting bombs, Halliburton, waterboarding equipment, Gitmo provisions, etc. This difference in itself is a rather compelling one, to me.

Posted by Adam
a resident of Old Mountain View
on Nov 15, 2011 at 8:11 pm

Ana Eshoo wants to raise taxes on the 99%, so that we can't join the 1%. She doesn't propose a wealth tax on current billionaires who now just sit on their cash, but an income tax on working people who may have nothing.

In Eshoo's dreamland, Larry Page and Sergey Brin would have been taxed once they invented Google, even though it's brought far more money and jobs to Mountain View than anything she can dream up ever will.

Most really poor people in Mountain View are hardworking illegal immigrants who can't even benefit from government programs that will only enrich well-connected people.

Posted by occupy
a resident of Whisman Station
on Nov 20, 2011 at 12:01 pm

Out of touch politician try to Co-opt the energy of the Occupy movement ? Anna, can you explain the campaign contributions you have received from Pro-SOPA organizations ? This article is pure PROPAGANDA. Everyone in Congress is CORRUPT.